


Moving Forward (Two Steps Back)

by ohmygoshwhatascream



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Angst, F/M, Late game spoilers, Post Game, bc she’s best girl, sharla-centric, short and unedited, so sorry for any mistakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 06:44:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20149375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygoshwhatascream/pseuds/ohmygoshwhatascream
Summary: Homs can’t fly.





	Moving Forward (Two Steps Back)

**Author's Note:**

> this started off a small a Reyn/Sharla but I needed some good angst so now we’re here instead. Contain some spoilers.

Sharla stands on the edge. Wind rushing through her hair, eyes stinging and hands held out forwards. If she wasn’t careful, if she leaned too far or her feet lost their grip, she’d tumble down into the salty depths of waves that beat strong against white cliffs.

Her childhood flashes before her eyes. Days of her youth, her hair much shorter and her knees bruised and scraped. She’d watched as her younger brother had flung himself out of a tree. He’d been trying to fly. He’d said the wind would pick him up and carry him, blow him across the Bionis like skeeters and vangs and rhoguls.

She hadn’t understood then. She’d just shouted at him. Held him tight as he’d cried and bandaged up his scratched arms and legs. She had told him it was ridiculous. Homs couldn’t fly. They were too heavy to get their feet of the ground. 

But she looks towards the ocean, so new and blue and endless, and wonders if it really were impossible. 

Gadolt had always said she was a realist. He’d done the dreaming for her. 

They’d planned a wedding. Just a little ceremony with close friends and remaining family. She was going to have flowers in her hair. Bright ones, light and soft. They’d have married in the warmth. Under bright lights and blossoming life. Like a fairytale.

She fiddles with the ring on her finger. Thick silver. Plain. Simple. 

It was nothing remarkable. Nothing wildly expensive or impressive. But it had been from him. He’d given it to her, late one evening. On a whim, he’d said, sliding it onto her finger. I’ll get you a prettier one when we’re married. 

The ring had been a promise. The before. Soon, after the war, they’d have so much more. A house. With a little fence painted white. Maybe some children. Maybe some grandchildren, eventually.

But as she stares out onto the waters, empty and vast and eternal, she wonders if all of that really was impossible. Like flying, it was something she’ll never get to do. Instead, she’ll fall. Fall like her brother had, out of that tree. 

It’s been years. The man she had loved is dead. He’s gone. He’s never coming back. He fell down, without her.

The ring slides of her finger. She pulls at it, feeling the warmth of metal against skin. The wind blows rough against her. 

She throws it down.

Silver catches the light. Bright white emerges, a beam down into the sea.

She watches it fall until it disappears altogether.

Homs can’t fly, she thinks.

She turns around. Away. Eyes closed, fists clenched. Goodbye, she breathes, voice barely even a whisper. 

She lets go.

**Author's Note:**

> Ive been playing so much xc2 and writing so much for that, so I’ve been completely neglecting this game! I eventually finished my 100% run after a years hiatus so I had to come back and write something!
> 
> I want to get back into this fandom more with some Reyn/Sharla and Reyn/Shulk so hopefully I’ll write some soon! Thanks for reading xxx


End file.
